Cheap Shutter? Where to find?

[gmikol]

Hi All--

This may seem like a strange request, but I'm hoping someone out there can help me out.

Where can I find a fairly cheap shutter? Something with maybe just 1 or 2 speeds in the 1/10 to 1/100 range and a T or B setting? Leaf shutter preferred, as I think it would be easier to adapt than an FP shutter. Clear opening of about 25mm (or more). The shutter in a Kodak Medalist seems a likely candidate, but there's no way I'm going to cannibalize my Medalist for this. So I'm hoping that someone out there who's laid their hands on many more cameras than I might have a suggestion for some cheapy camera to buy that I can salvage the shutter from.

Why?

I'm playing around with the idea of a DIY sensitometer, which is, when you think about it, an incredibly simple instrument. In order to get the exposure times down out of the range of potential reciprocity failure in B&W films, I've decided that I'll use a continuous light source and a shutter, so I don't have to worry about warm-up and cool-down of the lamp.

I know this may seem impractical, but I like experimenting, so humor me?

Thanks in advance for any help.

--Greg

PS-I'm also considering a gravity shutter, but I want to pursue both avenues if possible.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Try looking for Packard shutters on eBay. There a couple on there and they pop up from time to time.

 

[gmikol]

Try looking for Packard shutters on eBay. There a couple on there and they pop up from time to time.

Am I mistaken? I thought Packard shutters were un-timed?

--Greg

 

[BradS]

...but, you'll need a shutter much faster than 1/100 of a second to get into reciprocity failure...right?

 

[gmikol]

...but, you'll need a shutter much faster than 1/100 of a second to get into reciprocity failure...right?

I suppose I was unclear. I'm looking for an exposure faster than about 1/2 second, as this is where films like FP4 and HP5 start to exhibit poor reciprocity characteristics, according to the data sheets.

For example, the white light Wejex sensitometer I have sitting in front of me has a fixed 2.5 second exposure time. I suspect that the contrast over a 10-stop range might be different in this realm than in the range of 1/50 to 1/100.

I hope that makes sense.

--Greg